


More Than Just Alright

by lgbtbatgirls



Series: Love in Post-Apocalyptic America [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Explicit Consent, F/M, Fade to Black, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, First Time, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Mild Sexual Content, Moving On, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Passion, boone wears sunglasses inside bc of course he does, i'm sad so i'm projecting it onto these characters, includes minor courier oc backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 11:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lgbtbatgirls/pseuds/lgbtbatgirls
Summary: Boone realizes he has feelings for the Courier Six, and has absolutely no idea what to do.





	More Than Just Alright

Craig Boone sat alone in a dim room as he fiddled with his rifle. He could hear an argument from the other side of the door. Most likely Arcade and Cass fighting over something stupid, as per usual. It had gotten crowded in the Lucky 37, and everyone seemed to be at each other's throats. Though, it always seemed significantly worse when Lorna left them to their own devices. 

Lorna. Lorna. Lorna. Her name played over and over in his head like a tune he couldn’t forget.

She’d been called Courier Six, The Savior of the NCR, but there was something about the name “Lorna Vandal” that stuck out to him. That rang in his ears like a bell.

For months there had only been one woman on his mind, months of sorrowful despair and apathy until the Courier walked into his life. She’d saved him, from Raiders, from Legionnaires, but most importantly: she saved him from himself. He no longer dreamt of what happened at Bitter Springs, what happened to Carla. He no longer woke every morning to find he felt nothing but dread that he still drew breath when his wife did not. He wasn’t just surviving, he was living, and it was all because of her. Because of Lorna. 

A soft beep sounded in the hallway, followed by an abrupt silence between whatever fools has been arguing before. 

“Where’d you go?” Boone could hear Cass ask.

“Just did some gambling.” Lorna’s muffled voice approached the dinning room before the dim lights quickly became overpowered by the lights of the hallway. 

Boone squinted before putting his sunglasses back on. 

“You making us dinner, or were you just sitting in dark by yourself?” She asked.

He sat up straight. “This place gets crowded.” 

Her eyes scrunched closed as she smiled, making Boone’s heart flutter for a moment. He felt like a boy with a crush, it made him feel weak. Made him feel small. He supposed it made sense, why he felt so much for her. She’d done more for him than anyone ever had, even Carla. Still, it felt wrong, felt foreign. 

“I suppose it has gotten pretty crowded in the past few weeks. What, with having a robot, a robot dog, and a night stalker grandmother living with us. And that’s only the non-humans.” She laughed again.

“The humans are the annoying ones.” He added under his breath.

Lorna mockingly gasped. “Craig Boone, annoyed? Who ever would have thought.” She sat beside at the table as she eyed the rifle sitting before him. “You know, you remind me a lot of guy I used to know.”

Boone raised an eyebrow, unsure of whether that was a good thing or not. He could barely think straight with the heat of her body so close to him. “Every time you talk about someone ‘you used to know’ they usually were a creep or a murderer or both.”

“Well, that’s what you get when you were raised amongst raiders.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Boone had known she was an ex-raider, but it still felt like a sudden shock every time she reminded him. She was nothing like a raider. She was good, undeniably good. 

“His name was Lion.” She laughed at her own words. “It’s a stupid name, I know, but our father was obsessed with pre-war stories of great beasts with manes of fur that surrounded that faces. So much so, that his gang wore animal furs around their necks. He wanted the gang to be called the Lions, but when none of the other’s would go for it, he settled on naming his son ‘Lion’.”

“Lion is your brother?” 

“Not by blood, but yes. He was the closest thing I had to family.” 

“Was?” Boone’s eyes widened as he realized he’d perhaps pried too much. Lorna had been open to him before, but he knew very well that there were some things no one wishes to discuss. 

Lorna coughed awkwardly, before letting out an exaggerated sigh. “My father… The man who raised me, he wasn’t cruel, or at least not the way you would expect a raider to be. He found me and Lion when I was an infant, and he was a toddler. He and the gang had taken us in and actually cared for us. I decided to leave the gang when I was 17, but it wasn’t because of some altruistic goal or moral objection to the raider life style, but because the Vandal gang wasn’t making enough caps. I wanted more, I wanted power, but Lion shut me out. He told me if I left, he’d shoot me on sight if he saw me again.” Lorna grew silent for a moment, looking as if she was choking up. “When I left the gang, I got kicked down, beaten, defiled, but it took me being shot in the head and dug up from the grave for me to find a better path. Even on this path, I miss the Vandals, so much so that when someone asked my family name, I said Vandal, and just kept saying it.” 

There was a silent moment between the two. Boone felt as if he was holding his breath, trying to give Lorna the silence she deserved. She hadn’t meant to bring up an issue that was weighing so heavy on her, but it seemed that her mind had been looking for a release, for someone who was willing to listen. 

Boone gazed through the tint of his sunglasses as the softness of her face. She was so beautiful, even with the faint blue of a bruise around her eye, or the slight frizz in her raven hair. 

“I’m sorry. You didn’t ask me for my whole life story. You don’t remind me of any of Lion’s bad qualities, but all of his good ones. I always feel… safe when I’m with you, and that’s how it felt with my brother.” 

A warmness crept upon Boone’s cheeks. They’d fought and killed hundred of people and creatures together, but for some reason hearing her say the words made him happier than he thought possible. For weeks, he’d thought only of her, a soft yearning he felt deep within him. Could she feel the same? No, no it was possible.

“You don’t ever have to apologize to me, Lorna.” He said. He was glad he’d put his sunglasses back on as he’d found himself staring at her full lips as they opened slightly. 

She turned her body to face him completely, the warm skin of her palm finding his bare forearm. His skin burned beneath her touch as it lingered there, as her eyes lingered on his, before they moved to his lips. 

They stared in silence, for many moments, completely breathless. He was glad when she finally leaned forward for her mouth to meet his, because he was just about to do the same. It wasn’t a frantic or rough kiss, but a soft and passionate one. There wasn’t any rush as they moved towards each other or when he ran his fingers along her back and through her hair. They were both comfortable, completely content between the arms of the other. Boone found that he’d been wanting this for far too long, far longer than he would allow himself to admit. 

Boone had already felt as if his entire body had been set aflame, but the temperature grew exponentially when her tongue found its way into his mouth as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He wanted to be as close as humanly possible, but found that the chair’s arm was in the way. 

He pulled away suddenly, surprised to see shock on her face.

“Oh… I’m so sorry, Boone. I shouldn’t have.” She covered her mouth in embarrassment as she placed her other hand in her lap. 

Boone softly laid his hand atop her’s. “I told you, you never have to apologize to me.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, before lingering on her lips for a few seconds.

“Do you want to go to my room?” She whispered in his ear, sending chills down his spine. 

He nodded before he found that she’d already begun to drag him across the hallway and through the door to her private room. Within a few moments she was sitting at the foot of her bed, pulling at his collar. He kissed her lips, before his lips began tracing along her jaw, and then the nape of her neck. She moaned his name, a sound that drove him absolutely mad. In that moment, he realized he was really there, on Lorna’s bed. On Lorna. He pulled his t-shirt off from the back of his neck in one tug, before his hungry eyes returned to her. 

“Do you really want to? Like, are you sure you want to do this?” She asked. She knew he still loved Carla. No matter how much time passed, he would always love Carla. She was one of the loves of his life, but he’d had only just realized he had found another. 

He nodded. “I love you, Lorna, and I want nothing more than to spend the night with you.” 

There was almost a whimper that escaped her mouth as she sat up and smashed her lips against his. “I love you, too.” She said breathlessly. 

They fell back onto her bed, their bodies intertwined. Craig Boone would worship the goddess before him, for hours that night, and many more nights to come.

_______

Boone woke to the soft sounds of Lorna’s breath against his neck, and her body laced within his arms. He slept more soundly than he had in years, yet the rhythmic sound of her breath had already begun to lull him back to sleep. 

Craig Boone laid they, feeling the warmth of her skin against his, and soft beating of her heart against his. He was more than just alright, he was happy, he was ecstatic. He was in love.


End file.
